Alain I
"le Grand"

In 876 or 877 (more likely the latter year), the joint Breton
rulers Pascweten and Gurvand died, and were succeeded by Alain I,
brother of Pascweten, and Judicaël, maternal grandson of the
previous ruler Erispoë [Regino, Chronicon, s.a. 874,
109-110 (Regino's chronology is inaccurate)]. Between 1 August
888, when Alain was only count of Vannes ("comes
Warochiae provinciae"), and 8 November 888, when he was
called "Alan, omni Britannice presidens regioni",
Alain became the ruler of Brittany, evidently on the death of his
co-ruler Judicaël [for the chronology of Alain's reign, see
Borderie (1890), 577-588]. He appears to have been succeeded as
count of Vannes by his son Rudalt, while a certain Gurmhailon was
recognized (at least nominally) as the ruler of Brittany.

Father:Ridoredh.The name of Alain's father is
given only by an eleventh century Angevin document [Poupardin
(1900), 206],which states that he was illegitimate son of an
otherwise unidentified Ridoredh, and brother of Pascweten. The
fact that Alain was a brother of Pascweten is confirmed by
contemporary sources ["Alanus frater memorati Pasquitani"
Regino, Chronicon, s.a. 874, 110;
Cart. Redon, 186].

by Orgain:
Orgain's status as the mother of the following four sons appears
to be confirmed by the charter quoted in the Chronicle of Nantes
[Chr. Nantes, 74-7].

Rudalt, count [apparently of Vannes],
909×913.Rudalt appears as as a count "post
mortem patri sui" on a charter of 30 November 909
[Cart. Redon 225; Borderie (1897-8), 438], and as princeps
in a charter of 15 March 913 [Cart. Redon 222]. Although Rudalt
is not explicitly called a son of Alain, the latter is the
obvious candidate for the unnamed father mentioned in the 909
charter, and the charter quoted in the Chronicle of Nantes, which
he signed first, immediately before the following three known
sons of Alain, suggests that he was Alain's eldest son by Orgain.
For the attempt of Guillotel to identify Rudalt with Derian
below, see the Commentary section below on count Tangui.

mother uncertain:
Derian's absence in the above charter suggests that he may not
have been a son of Orgain, although this is hardly conclusive.
Nothing is known about the mother(s) of the two daughters.

Derian, fl. 903×910.Mentioned as a son of Alain in a
charter of Alain in 903 [Cart Redon, 376-7 ("Dergen")],
and in a charter of his godfather count Tangui in 910, with whom
he had divided the village of Elven [Cart. Redon, 226]. For the
attempt of Guillotel to identify Derian with Rudalt above, see
the Commentary section below on count Tangui.

daughter, m. Mathuédoï,
count of Poher. [Chr. Nantes; Poupardin
(1900), 306]
Mathuédoï led a group of Bretons into exile in England when
Vikings overran Brittany soon after the death of Alain le Grand.
Mathuédoï's son Alain Barbetorte (d. 952) was the leader of the
returning exiles who eventually took Brittany back from the
Vikings.

daughter, de orti sunt Rochisii.[Poupardin (1900), 306] the attempt of
Guillotel to identify the husband of this daughter as Tangui,
godfather of Derian, see the Commentary section.

Commentary

Most of the information on the sons of Alain le
Grand comes from various charters:

888: The cartulary of
Redon records that Alain gave two [villages] to abbot Fulcher on
8 November 888, for the health of his son Gueroc (Querac), who
was then gravely ill [Cart. Redon, 373-5: "... filius
ejus Querac graviter egrotare cepisset. ..."; Borderie
(1897-8), 605-6].

895: In a charter of duke
Alain dated 15 January 895, Alain is followed as a witness by his
son Uueroc and by two others (Paxuuetan, Budic) known to be his
sons from other charters mentioned below. [Cart. Redon, 216:
"Bili, episcopus, testis; Alan, dux, testis; filius ejus
Uueroc, testis; Paxuuetan, testis; Budic, testis; Salomon, filius
Euuen, ..."; Borderie (1897-8), 439]

903: In the cartulary of
Redon, a charter dated 14 September of an uncertain year was
confirmed on 28 August 903 by Alain and his sons Pascuuethan,
Dergen, and Budic. [Cart. Redon, 376-7: "... Alanus,
princeps, qui affirmavit; Pascuuethan et Dergen et Budic, filii
ejus ..."; Borderie (1897-8), 607]

probably 903: In the
cartulary of the cathedral at Angers, there is a charter of
Alain, king of Brittany, dated 26 November of an unstated year
which must be 897 or later (because of the presence of Foucher,
bishop of Nantes), but probably in 903, in which he granted the
abbey of Saint-Serge d'Angers to Rainon, bishop of Angers, and
his successors. Witnesses included Alain's wife Orgaim and his
sons Vuereche and Pascuiten. [Cart. Angers 29-32: "...
Signum Alani glorissimi regis ... S. Orgaim, uxoris suae. S.
Bili, episcopi. S. Fulcherii, episcopi. S. Vuereche, filii Alani.
S. Pascuiten, fratris sui. ..."]

Possible son:

Hervé, living 12 June 878.A "Haervi, testis, filius
Alan" appears as a witness (the last in the list) in a
charter of Alain, count of Broweroch (i.e., Alain le Grand) dated
12 June 878 [Cart. Redon, 183]. It is not clear whether this
Hervé (apparently otherwise unknown) was a son of Alain le Grand
or of another man named Alain. A son of the count would
ordinarily have been higher up in the list of witnesses.

Falsely attributed
sons:

Judicaël.Called a son of Alain (along with Colledoc)
by Le Baud [Le Baud (1st redaction), 3: 141-2]. There appears to
be no evidence for such a son. A "Jedecael, princeps
Poucaer" appears as the first witness to the 892
charter of Colledoc (see next below), and this may be the
individual intended by Le Baud, but there is no good reason to
regard him as Alain's son.

Colledoc, living 14 September 892.Called a son of Alain by Le Baud [Le Baud
(1st redaction), 3: 141-2], Colledoc donated land to Saint-Saveur
de Redon on 14 September 892 "pro anima sua et pro anima
Alani principis totius Britanniae et filiorum ejus"
(for the sake of his own soul, and for the sake of the soul of
Alan prince of all of Brittany and of his sons), later confirmed
in 903 by Alain and his sons Pascweten, Derian, and Budic [Cart.
Redon 221, 376-7; see Borderie (1895), 606, for the chronology].
A Colledoc, possibly the same, had witnessed a charter of 868
[Cart. Redon, 19 (Coletoc)], 869 [Cart. Redon, 192 (Koledoc)].
Although he may have been related to Alain, the wording of the
charter makes it very unlikely that he was Alain's son.

Gurmhailon, fl. 908×913 [Cart. Redon 224, 226; for the chronology, see Borderie
(1890), 588-590 and Borderie (1897), 445-9],
ruler of Brittany.[Lobineau (1707) makes Gurmhailon
a son of Alain in the genealogical tables at the begiing of his
history, but there is no good reason to belive this.]

Supposed son-in-law
(doubtful):Tangui, fl. 910, count.As stated above, a charter of count Tangui
(Tanchi, Tangi), dated 27 November 910, states that he had
divided the "plebs" of Elven with his godson (filiolu[s])
Derian, son of Alain [Cart. Redon, 226]. The claim that Tangui
was a son-in-law of Alain le Grand, as well as the attempt to
identify Rudalt with Derian, comes from a statement of Guillotel
[Guillotel (1984), 372-3; also on the genealogical table on p.
357]:

Thus, Guillotel would identify Tangui as the
husband of the above daughter from whom the Rochisii
descended, as given in the Angevin genealogical collection
[Poupardin (1900)]. However, both of Guillotel's statements are
misleading, for the charter from the cartulary of Redon names
Derian as the son of Alain and filiolus of Tangui [Cart.
Redon, 226], and the Angevin genealogies do not give the name of
Alain's second son-in-law. Thus, not only does Guillotel not give
reasons for identifying Rudalt with Derian and Tangui with the
husband of Alain's other daughter, he makes these identifications
without making it clear to the reader that he is doing so, and by
misleading the reader as to the actual content of the sources.
Also, from the chronology, we would not generally expect Tangui's
godson to also be his brother-in-law (especially since Rudalt
appears to have been his father's eldest son and successor), and
there is also no clear reason to identify Rudalt with Derian.

Le Baud (2nd redaction) = NN, sieur d'Hozier,
ed., Histoire de Bretagne, avec les les chroniqves des
maisons de Vitré et de Laval, par Pierre Le Bavd, chantre et
chanoine (Paris, 1638). This was taken from the second
redaction of Pierre Le Baud's history of Brittany, which was
finished not long before his death on 19 September 1505.